Federal Hall, located at 26 Wall Street in New York City, was the first capitol of the United States of America and the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789. It is also the place where the United States Bill of Rights was passed. The original building was demolished in the nineteenth century and replaced by the current structure, which served as the first United States Customs Hous...
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Federal Hall, located at 26 Wall Street in New York City, was the first capitol of the United States of America and the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789. It is also the place where the United States Bill of Rights was passed. The original building was demolished in the nineteenth century and replaced by the current structure, which served as the first United States Customs House. Today, the Federal Hall National Memorial, as it is now known, is operated by the National Park Service as a museum commemorating the historic events that happened there.
The original structure on the site was built as New York's City Hall in 1700. In 1735, John Peter Zenger, an American newspaper publisher, was arrested for committing libel against the British royal governor and was imprisoned and tried there. His acquittal on the grounds that the material he had printed was true established the freedom of the press as it was later defined...
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